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The Mason-Dixon Astronomer
Westminster Astronomical Society of Maryland
March 2001
Coming
Events
March 10
Star Party at Soldier’s Delight, 8 pm
to 11 pm
March 14
Monthly Meeting
with David Dunham
April 20
Star Party at
Soldier’s Delight
Friday, Mar 23
Messier Marathon
May 19
Star Party
Piney Run
In This Issue
Page 1
Prez’s Message
WAS Monthly
MTG
Page 2
Star Points
Cartoon Feature
Page 4
Light Pollution
Bill
Page 6
Tectites
Page 7
Calendar
Page 8
Web site OTM
Prez’s Message,
Cont’d
Page 9
George Gliba
Vol. 17 No. 3
Presidential Message
By Brian Eney
If you have been following the news of discovery of additional moons in our solar system, Jupiter
has 28, Saturn-26, Uranus-22, Neptune-15 and the newly discovered moon around EARTH?! I
received an email yesterday confirming the fact at least for the next six months Earth has two
moons.
Powell Observatory, in Louisburg, Kansas, helped confirm the existence of another moon of the
planet Earth, while doing routine follow up of a Near Earth Asteroid recently discovered by Kitt
Peak's Space Watch NEO project. Kitt Peak found this bus sized (8 to 19 meters in diameter) object on Sunday night, February 18-19, and posted requests for follow up observations on the Minor Planet Center's NEO Confirmation Web Page. Scott Kranz was leading a team consisting of
Gil Machin and Joe Alburty getting certified on the NASA Grant Near Earth Object Project at
Powell Observatory. They were using the 12" LX200 telescope and ST7E CCD camera to observe and report on NEOs. The first object they observed was SS994, a bright, fast moving object
discovered just hours before.
They turned in their observations routinely to the Minor Planet Center, as did observers from 15
other observatories around the world. It was not until Friday, February 23 that Minor Planet researchers realized what a special find this object really was. Orbital calculations were made and
the designation 2001 DO47 was assigned.
We have a “really big show” for March
David W. Dunham, March MDA speaker, sends this abstract -Space rocks: The first confirmed recordings of lunar meteor impacts, as well as occultation of stars
by asteroids and lunar grazes, and NEAR's landing on Eros.
North American astronomers recorded at least seven Leonid meteors strike the Moon's surface late
Wednesday night, November 17/18, 1999. It was part of a meteor storm that had swept over
Europe, Africa, and the Middle East a few hours earlier. Each of these meteors produced a flash of
light that was seen with a video camera or the eye by at least two independent observers, marking
the first confirmed observations of lunar meteor impacts. When I read a NASA Web site suggesting that meteors might be seen hitting the Moon during the Leonid meteor shower predicted to occur on November 17/18, I used the Internet to encourage IOTA observers to use their
equipment to monitor the dark side of the Moon that night. My videos of the successful observations will be shown and discussed, along with the possibilities for future lunar impact observations.
In addition, I will discuss some recent results of occultation of stars by asteroids, including the successful timings of an occultation by 238 Hypatia on March 6. A reduction profile derived
from our observations of the grazing occultation of SAO 95090 by the thin crescent Moon observed north of Westminster on May 4, 1995 will be shown. Finally, to finish this presentation
about different kinds of space rocks, I will briefly describe the first landing of a
spacecraft on an asteroid.
_____________ March 14 BBNC 7:30 pm; Bullocks 6:00 dinner with our speaker_________
Star Points for March
Bright Planets on the March
By Curtis Roelle
Bright Planets on the March
March nights continue to be a good time for viewing several bright planets visible to the unaided eye - no telescope
required. We will also learn about a public "star party" taking place during the first weekend of spring.
Venus is splendid this month and remains high in the sky when twilight ends in mid-March. Venus is so bright that it
is best viewed with a telescope during bright twilight or even in broad daylight. On the other hand, when viewed in a
dark sky Venus has a dazzling brilliance that is very distracting.
In a telescope the crescent shape of Venus is quite apparent. Each night of the month finds the crescent growing
thinner yet larger as Venus continues drawing closer to earth. Persons with keen eyesight should try looking at
Venus and see if they can detect the crescent shape with the unaided eye. Some viewers have reported such observations.
By month's end Venus will be approaching "inferior conjunction" as it passes between the earth and the sun and will
be setting with the sun. As March closes Venus will be making its mark in the morning sky. The crescent will start
waxing as Venus begins pulling away from us as it continues in orbit.
Continued on Page 3
Ryan's Rules
Page 2
Star Points, continued
Jupiter and Saturn are still high in the western sky as twilight ends in early March. The two planets are
aligned vertically with brighter Jupiter higher up than Saturn. The smallest of telescopes can easily distinguish
between the two - Jupiter with its moons and
Saturn with its rings.
Naked eye viewers can see the beautiful Pleiades (a.k.a. Seven Sisters) star cluster nearby. It is to the right of
the planets and marks the third corner of a triangle with them. As a nearsighted lad in need of glasses I once
glimpsed it on Christmas Eve and thought I had discovered a new comet. A quick look through binoculars revealed my comet to be a cluster of stars, which turned out to be the famous Pleiades.
Now, the part you've been waiting for. The Westminster Astronomical Society is having a star party at Bear
Branch Nature Center (BBNC) and you're invited. It begins at twilight on Friday, March 23 and goes all night
until the morning of March 24. You can come and go anytime you like. The occasion is the annual "Messier
Marathon" as members pay homage to the 18th century French comet hunger Charles Messier by observing object
in the list of over 100 star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies Messier cataloged.
BBNC is located off of John Owings Road north of Westminster. If Friday is cloudy, then the star party
will occur on Saturday evening, March 24.
Jupiter
Titan
The Pleides, a cluster of young stars
Page 3
Light Pollution Bill Update
by Dave Kratz
AAS MARYLAND MEMBER ACTION ALERT
[This message was mailed from aas.org at 4:05pm 26 FEB 2001 to AAS Members with Maryland, DC
and Virginia mailing addresses. It is intended for those that reside in Maryland.]
Summary
This action alert summarizes action that the Maryland State Legislature may be making soon regarding light pollution. Maryland AAS members are encouraged to contact their state
representatives to support the passage of Maryland House Joint Resolution 14, which establishes a task
force to investigate the consequences and extent of inefficient public lighting.
Introduction
The Maryland Section of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA-MD) is asking for help to ensure the passage of legislation now before the Maryland General Assembly. The legislation mandates a
comprehensive study of light pollution in Maryland. The Washington, DC area is rapidly losing what little
remaining dark skies it can claim to development and poor outdoor lighting practices. In addition to destroying the starry night skies, poor outdoor lighting wastes millions of dollars of public funds every year,
creates hazardous driving conditions, aggravates global warming (through excess energy production),
degrades the nighttime environment for migrating birds and other wildlife, and intrudes on personal privacy.
Details
Earlier this month, House Joint Resolution 14 was introduced in the Maryland House of Delegates.
HJ 14, sponsored by Delegate Nancy Kopp (Bethesda) and 22 other delegates, would create a task force
to "study the cost, extent, and consequences of inefficient public lighting and light pollution in the State
and benefits of alternative improvements." IDA-MD believes that the study mandated by HJ 14 will be
extremely useful in our efforts to educate public officials and the general public about the light pollution
issue, and will be instrumental in convincing local governments around the state to adopt and enforce
effective outdoor lighting ordinances.
The text of HJ 14 can be found on the General Assembly's website at:
http://mlis.state.md.us/2001rs/billfile/HJ0014.htm
To ensure the adoption of HJ 14, it is important that every member of the Maryland House and Senate be contacted by residents from their districts urging them to support HJ 14. Contacts, ideally, should
be in the form of written letters, but also can be via phone calls or email. State Delegates and Senators can
easily be identified by using the convenient service provided by the General
Assembly at: http://archive2.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/who_reps/html/lookup.html
It is also important that contact be made before 6 March, the date on which the House Appropriations
Committee will hold a hearing on HJ 14. (It is particularly important that members of the Appropriations
Committee be contacted. Members of the Appropriations Committee are listed at
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/com/01app.html
Continued on page 5
Page 4
At the 6 March hearing, International Dark Sky Association representatives will be speaking in support
of the legislation.
HJ 14 represents a serious "first step" to stopping and even reversing the degradation of Maryland's
dark skies. The American Astronomical Society encourages each member in Maryland to contact and urge
his or her state legislators to adopt HJ 14. Also, please encourage any other organizations or individuals
with a similar interest in this issue to contact their state legislators to support HJ 14. Your support and effort
are greatly appreciated. If you have any questions about this effort or issue, please contact David Corum at
202.828.7126 (day) or 301.933.1484 (evening), who is the MD IDA coordinator.
Kevin B. Marvel
http://mlis.state.md.us/2001rs/billfile/HJ0014.htm
To ensure the adoption of HJ 14, it is important that residents from their districts urging them to support
HJ 14 contact every member of the Maryland House and Senate. Contacts, ideally, should be in the form of
written letters, but also can be via phone calls or email. State Delegates and Senators can easily be
identified by using the convenient service provided by the General Assembly at:
http://archive2.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/who_reps/html/lookup.html
It is also important that contact be made before 6 March, the date on which the House Appropriations
Committee will hold a hearing on HJ 14. (It is particularly important that members of
the Appropriations Committee be contacted. Members of the Appropriations Committee are listed at
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/com/01app.html
At the 6 March hearing; International Dark Sky Association representatives will be speaking in support
of the legislation.
HJ 14 represents a serious "first step" to stopping and even reversing the degradation of Maryland's
dark skies. The American Astronomical Society encourages each member in Maryland to contact and urge
his or her state legislators to adopt HJ 14. Also, please encourage any other organizations or individuals
with a similar interest in this issue to contact their state legislators to support HJ 14. Your support and effort
are greatly appreciated. If you have any questions about this effort or issue, please contact David Corum at
202.828.7126 (day) or 301.933.1484 (evening), who is the MD IDA coordinator.
Kevin B. Marvel
Associate Executive Officer for Policy Programs
American Astronomical Society
mailto:[email protected]
ATTENTION: House Joint Resolution 14 will form a Task Force to study Light Pollution in Maryland. HJ
14 is currently under Committee Review. Write your Delegates. Support HJ 14!
Page 5
Article 9 - Tektites
By Phil Schmitz
I had just about given up on owning a nice barbell tektite. The ones I have seen on the Internet or at mineral shows just
weren’t that good. However, at the Winter Star Party in Florida, there was a dealer that had some meteorites and tektites for
sale. I looked over the “barbell” tektites and several of them were nice, but not nice enough for me. For some reason, the
dealer’s wife moved the tektite box and I noticed more tektites in the box on the bottom. She said I would have to wait for her
husband to return before I could rummage through this other box. After he returned, I asked if I could look in the lower box.
He told me that the ones in the top box were better than the ones in the lower box. I again asked if I could look through the
box anyway, and he finally said “ok”. I looked through the bag containing the barbell tektites and found a gem of a barbell
tektite, the best one I had ever seen (of course, I didn’t tell him that). He gave me a nice price (I had bought several other
items from him, a tee shirt, a meteorite, and some books) on the tektite, so I bought it.
Tektites are truly peculiar objects; science has been trying to explain them for decades. Tektites are small glassy objects,
usually black, but they can be green (Moldavites), gray (Darwin Glass) or yellow (Libyan Desert Glass) among others. They
also come in many shapes; round, disk, teardrop, oval, barbell, button and cigar to name a few. The shape of tektites is caused
by their reentry in the atmosphere. Like meteorites, tektites have no new elements in them; they are basically made of silica
(glass). Unlike meteorites, tektites are not found randomly on the Earth. The major tektite field in the world extends from the
continent of Australia to off the coast of Madagascar and north to Indonesia. This is a very large area indeed. The next largest area extends from the southeast coast of the United States, West to Africa and down to the northern coast of South America. Other smaller strewn fields exist, the Ivory Coast, the Czech Republic, Aouelloul (Western Africa), Irgiz (Southern
Asia), and the Libyan Desert are the other major areas. Tektites are anywhere from 700,000 years old (Australia) to 35 million years old (Texas) in age.
Continued on page 7
Photo of the barbell tektite Phil
just purchased in Florida
Page 6
Tectites, continued
One unusual aspect of tektites, among others, is that they have virtually no water in them. They are drier than any known Earth
rock. They also show almost no cosmic ray tracks indicating that they have not spent a lot of time in space (less than 900
years). One theory is that as meteorites impact the Earth, material from the Earth is ejected out of the atmosphere. This material
then cools and solidifies as it reenters the atmosphere after an undetermined number of orbits around the Earth. One problem
with this theory is that tektites are not found at every meteorite location, especially some of the larger impact craters. Since tektites don’t rust, they are highly resistant to the Earth’s changing geology, and some are known to be 35 million years old. Some
scientists suggested that they came from the Moon, or that they are ancient human artifacts, or just obsidian, a type of volcanic
glass. When the Moon rocks were returned from the Apollo missions, the analysis showed the Moon rocks and tektites to be
completely different. Tektites are relatively young, where as the rocks returned from the Moon are very old. The Moon does
not show any recent geological events (volcanoes) to account for the age of tektites.
WAS Skywatch Calendar
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Venera 3, first craft to impact Venus, 1966
First quarter Moon
/
Mars 5 deg. N of Antares
Voyager I flyby of Jupiter, 1979
/
John Herschel b. 1792
Moon at perigee
Full Moon
Ring of Uranus discovered, 1977
Mercury at 27 degrees W elongation
/
Wm Herschel discovers Uranus, 1781
Albert Einstein b. 1879
Mars 1.8 deg. S of Moon
Last quarter Moon
St. Patrick’s Day
Ceres 0.5 deg. S of Moon
/
Vernal equinox
Uranus 3 deg. N of Moon
Mercury 2 deg. N of Moon
First Photograph of Moon, 1840
Walter Baade b. 1893
Chrisiaan Huygens discovers Titan, 1655
/
Vesta in conjunction with Sun
Heinrich Olbers discovers Pallas, 1802
29 Heinrich Olbers discovers Vesta
30
Page 7
WAS Web Site of the Month
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/rpp/images/HPC_CLOUDCVR_DAY4.png
Experimental NWS maps of cloud cover for the next 24-hour period. A quick and easy
means for determining if conditions will be clear for astronomers.
President’s Message Continued
The orbit was very peculiar. The object appears to be orbiting the Earth. Five days of observations
confirmed this. 2001 DO47 was now in Earth orbit. Apparently it has been in Earth orbit since about
August 2000, but was only just discovered. It was a typical Near Earth Object that passed too close to
the Moon in August 2000 and was slowed down just enough to drop into Earth orbit about 1.7 times the
distance of the moon from Earth. Current calculations estimate it will stay in Earth orbit until August 8,
2001 when it will again pass close to the Moon and be flung out of Earth orbit.
Further observations may change this, however, and you can bet it will be closely observed through
the summer. Radar observations are currently being planned by the large radio telescopes and further
astrometry will be needed. These observations will determine the rotational period and may even develop a profile of 2001 DO47's shape. Captured asteroid moons are not unusual in the Solar System.
The two moons of Mars are thought to be captured asteroids as are many of the moons of the gas giant
planets, including many recently discovered ones.
So in schools and universities around the world when the test question comes up, "how many
moons does the Earth have?" The answer for the next six months will be "TWO!"
In today world of millions of amateur astronomers world -wide how did we miss this for so long?
Make wonder and a little uneasy. Always keep looking up. I think this gives a good reason to fight
light pollution, so we can see these dim intruders.
Links to the Lunar and Solar Calendars
Due to problems inserting these in the newsletter, the editors found it easier to link to directly
to the site. So, you can download the March Lunar and Solar Calendars (using Acrobat
Reader) at:
http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/temp/almanac/westminster/2001/Moon_MAR_2001.pdf
http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/temp/almanac/westminster/2001/Sun_MAR_2001.pdf
Thanks,
Jaci and Richard
Page 8
Springtime Galaxies, Supernovae, and Us
by G.W. Gliba
Soon it will be Spring, as the constellation Leo rises in the east earlier each night. This is an area of the sky that is devoid of
the lovely crowded star fields of the winter Milky Way. For this is where the hub of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is located.
It is where Edwin Hubble's Realm of the Nebulae, and Immanual Kant's Island Universes are. This is galaxy land. Here we
are looking out with a relatively unobstructed view to the Deep Sky beyond our home galaxy.
Several of these other galaxies are Messier objects, and are fairly bright. Many of them can be observed with binoculars
and small telecopes. In the eleven year period, from 1989 to 1999, near the end of the last century, this area of the heavens
had at least seven supernovae located in Messier objects that were visible with modest telescopes. These titanic stellar explosions created the elements heavier than iron, and disperse most of the many diverse elements of the Periodic Table into
the Universe.
The elements in our bodies come mostly from ancient supernovae in our galaxy. Also, a supernova event probably
helped make the Solar System form, causing the pre-solar nebula to compress and make the Sun. This process is called stochastic star formation, and is thought to cause the "starburst" regions seen in some other galaxies. So, because supernovae
have been essential to our existence, than they are probably also important to other intelligent sentient beings in other galaxies. Which is why it is fun to speculate on the importance of the supernovae, philosophically, when observing them at the
telescope eyepiece.
The Messier objects that have spawned supernovae in the eleven year period, from 1989 to 1999, that I have seen in the
Ursa Major, Leo, Coma, Virgo region of the sky are: M66 and M58 in 1989, M84 in 1991, M81 in 1993, M51 in 1994, M96
in 1998, and M88 in 1999. There were probably one or two others that I missed. Most of them were between 12th and 13th
magnitude, but the bright one in M81 reached 10.5 magnitude! There were several other supernovae that were in NGC objects in this part of the sky during this period, but most of them were much harder to see along with their host galaxies,
which generally were fainter. I have seen 23 supernovae in 27 years, and most of them have been in this part of the sky.
The most memorable of these supernovae were the ones in M51, M81, and M66. The one in M51, which is the famous
Whirlpool Galaxy, was a Type Ia SN. It was located close to the center of the galaxy and it faded faster than the others,
which were mostly Type-II. The SN in M81, as was mentioned, was not only pretty bright, but it was visible from Winter to
late Summer in 1993. The SN in M66 was memorable for an entirely different reason. On the first night that I saw the SN, it
was very windy at the Goddard Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory, and while using the Goddard Astronomy
Club's 12-inch F/5.6 Newtonian telescope the strong wind set off the fire alarm inside the observatory.
Before we could call it in as a false alarm, several fire trucks came to the GAC observatory with their sirens blasting and
red lights flashing. Firemen, armed with firehoses and pickaxes, and dressed in firesuits, approached us at the sliding roof
observatory. When they finally realized it was a false alarm they left. After we observed the M66 SN, we left a short time
later. On the way home we saw one of the fire trucks on the side of the road in a ditch with an apparent flat tire. Several
firemen were standing around the disabled vehicle.
The affects of this supernova, that happened tens of millions of years ago, was far-reaching and subtle.
Page 9